He cannot sustain relationships this orphan of a war <br />That took place many years ago in a Country from here far <br />His only offspring his daughter and her children he has not seen for years <br />In the privacy of his room his memories often move him to tears. <br /> <br />A German fellow in his late seventies long separated from his wife <br />Raised in a Berlin orphanage he has known an awful life <br />Too sick to work and fragile in an old folks home he now reside <br />His body is still living though 'twould seem his soul has died. <br /> <br />One of the collateral victims of war that we hear so much about <br />His ego has been damaged after decades of self doubt <br />He could not sustain relationships even with those to him near and dear <br />he is part of war's collateral damage of which we so often hear. <br /> <br />He was never a bad person and of him it would be fair to say <br />That his tragic life circumstances make him what he is today <br />The trauma of his life's experiences till death with him will remain <br />And he feels he does not have a future and his past is full of pain. <br /> <br />Of the words collateral damage we so often hear today <br />They are used about poor war victims in such a dismissive way <br />As if they are not important like the poor man by life knocked about <br />Who before he meets the Reaper is already counted out.<br /><br />Francis Duggan<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/he-is-part-of-war-s-collateral-damage/
